


worship of ashes

by plotholes_and_paradoxes



Series: trial by fire [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Firelord Iroh (Avatar), Hurt Zuko (Avatar), he's regent until azula becomes fire lord, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:54:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25700941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plotholes_and_paradoxes/pseuds/plotholes_and_paradoxes
Summary: Azula and Zuko react to their new situation differently.Azula is angry.And Zuko wants to end the war.
Relationships: Azula & Iroh (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: trial by fire [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1837981
Comments: 9
Kudos: 467





	worship of ashes

**Author's Note:**

> “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”  
> ― Gustav Mahler

The first day Uncle is regent, Azula tells him she hates him. 

Uncle barely responds. Azula’s blood boils, her fists heating up into the beginnings of fire. He still doesn’t respond. 

She abandons firebending, pushing him backwards with her hands. It is treason, of course. But Azula is so far damned at this point, what does it matter. 

“I hate you!” She yells again. Uncle won’t listen to her, nobody ever listens to her, and she’s tired of it. “Adults keep messing things up! And I keep having to fix them! You shouldn’t have let Zuko into the War Council, you stupid old man. You should have kept him away from the Agni Kai. And because of your mistakes, I had to kill Father.” 

Azula is crying by the end. She doesn’t quite know when she started. She tells herself she’s crying with rage, as if that’s any more dignified than crying for any other reason. (Azula doesn’t actually know why she’s crying.)

“Feeling guilty is perfectly natural, Princess Azula,” Uncle Iroh says soothingly. “But you were very brave and very strong. You did the right thing.”

Azula bristles. She does not feel guilty! Of course she did the right thing, because she is Azula and thus she is never wrong. 

“I apologize, niece.” Uncle sighs. “I should never have left you two alone with Ozai. I was too wrapped up in grief to see what he was doing to you and your brother.” 

Tears still roll down Azula’s cheeks. “We didn’t need you!” she snarls. “Everything would be fine if you had just stayed away!” 

Uncle sighs and takes Azula in his arms. Azula tenses, of course she does, and Iroh’s heart breaks. But she melts into his embrace, her tears drying on his shirt. 

“I have made many mistakes, niece,” he says. “But I intend to fix them. You will make a great Fire Lord someday, and it is my job to make sure you are safe and happy until then.” 

Azula wants to tell Uncle that her happiness doesn’t matter, has never mattered. But he’s wandered away to bring her a blanket and some tea, and she’s too shaken to refuse it. She tells herself she needs to be close to Uncle to manipulate him, to ensure her and Zuko’s safety. (It has absolutely nothing to do with how safe Uncle’s hug made her feel.)

Uncle cries when Zuko wakes up enough to talk. Azula feels the old bitterness climb up her chest -- mother loved Zuko more, and now Uncle does too. (She doesn’t realize that if she were the one in the hospital bed, Uncle Iroh would be forcing gross tea down her throat and crying just as much.)

Zuko is still barely lucid when he asks to speak with Uncle. 

“You can always speak with me, nephew,” he says with sad eyes. 

“No.” Zuko shakes his head, wincing as the bandages rub against his skin. “Formally. As Prince to the regent Fire Lord.” 

“You are not going to another war council,” Azula snaps. 

Zuko smiles painfully. “It’s about the war.” He takes a deep breath, Azula and Iroh’s gazes on him. “I think we should end it.” 

“What?” Azula says. 

Uncle hums noncommittally. “Why do you think that, nephew?” 

Zuko takes a deep breath. Azula sees a fire inside his eyes -- she wonders if that’s what he looked like in the war council. All big-hearted and determined. 

“It’s so wasteful. The 41st --” 

“Have been sent home,” Azula says. “You’re welcome.”

Zuko almost smiles at that. “Not just them. So many fire nation lives are wasted every day.” Zuko coughs painfully. “For what? We have the colonies. The Avatar has been gone for almost 100 years. We’ve won.” His unbandaged eye is wide, almost desperate. “We can stop.”

Uncle has a faraway look that Azula knows is because of Lu Ten. Are they really going to give up because her brother and her uncle have bleeding hearts? (Then again, Azula hates waste. And the military has been wasteful. She also hates seeing Zuko sad, but that has nothing to do with this.) 

Iroh looks at these two bright-eyed children who are doing their best. He thinks about how wasteful Ozai was to hurt them. 

“What do you think, Azula?” Uncle asks. Azula freezes. This must be a test. 

“You’re regent, Uncle. The choice is yours to make.” 

Uncle laughs gently. “I still want your opinion. I’ve heard you’re quite a skilled tactician.” 

Azula is almost flattered. She looks Uncle in the eyes and makes up her mind. “It is beneath us to fight for scraps. Our nation is strong and proud, and it is time for our troops to come home.” 

Uncle looks thoughtful. He nods at Azula. “I will have the announcement drafted by morning.”


End file.
